Chapter 7. The Turkish Menace
"Agh, is it really that unwinnable?" Araki mulls over as he constantly watches one of the many matches that has Suleiman Academy playing in them on his PC. "Are they really that good in eliminating infantry formations?" He mutters in disbelief, even with the evidence laid right in front of his eyes.
It seems that while they are eternally locked away from any chance to even enter the semi-finals because of their vehicles not made for near peer conflicts, their track records over the years show that they are incredible in infantry combat, with videos showing them taking on multiple infantry squads at once with incredible efficiencies and only losing to Albert Frederick's, Kangaroo Savanna and Soudainakyoukoku motorized units in head on fights, and maybe Legionnaries' infamous scout platoon when they are ambushed.
Right in front of the PC, to the side of the keyboard is a notebook filled with scribbles of information that Araki found out watching the videos. The most notable thing he noticed is that they are the only school to issue the renowned MG3 on a squad level, serving in the Automatic Rifleman role. This greatly increases the Turkish school's infantry firepower to a worrying degree already.
But then there is something that comes to him that is even worse when he is watching the recordings on the JHF website. The amount of explosives that these Turkish squads can dish out is incredibly insane, and at a ridiculously fast rate, not capable for a normal single shot grenade launcher. This gets him to look even further into the subject, only to find out the worst thing they have to deal with. It is not the Hitler's buzz saw that they should be worried most about, it is the damn Milkor MGL instead. Apparently Suleiman Academy is the only school in the entire League to issue these en masse, though conventional under-barrel grenade launchers are given to mechanized units for ease of use and compactness. Regardless, it is because of this massive firepower advantage, compounding with their armored vehicles able to do its job against infantry units means they pose a great threat.
Of course, as mentioned above, their vehicles are built more for counter-insurgency operations and not for near peer combat, meaning they are very weak against the BMP-3Ms and BTR-82As that possess incredibly firepower. However, that Achilles' heel is a moot point due to the game mode they have to play the Turks against – Recovery. With complete absence of the IFVs and APCs means the most armored unit in the entire match likely being a puny Tigr-M that can be swiftly taken out with a well-placed anti-tank munition, their usual doctrine of relying on those vehicles at center of operations is impossible to practice to the same effectiveness with just Kord mounted Tigrs. But still, they have to make do, and Araki has already asked the team to start practicing standard vehicular maneuvers with the assistance of the female members of the club. This doesn't mean the girls will be participating in the match, but they can at least aid in one way or another.
Still, this problem requires a solution, and to that, Araki has been searching for it ever since he came home to Aomori after the unlucky faceoff he picked up in the national drawing; and it has been nearly a week since then. Sure, they can try to avoid the main element, but then the damn Jandarma units of theirs would have found them out and kept harassing them until they bleed all their men out. Maybe aim to eliminate those guys? No, the main element would likely utilize the distraction and rattle them down with accurate G3 and MG3 fire. Fight them head out with vehicle support? That can work, but it is risky considering that they make use of RPG-7s and HAR-66 LAWs, which are good enough to take on jeeps. Oh wait, then there's the semi-auto noob tube... Fuck, that thing can definitely tear the Tigr a new one.
Feeling like he's just going to be stuck thinking about the strategy for the whole night, his hand inches towards the phone placed to the left of the keyboard. He wouldn't be able to figure this whole issue out in time, but what about the captain of Otto von Krieger? Perhaps she can offer him some new ways to approach this. He opens his opens, only to take a look at the time and click his tongue. It's already way past 23:00 and he needs to wake up early tomorrow for school, not to mention an insomniac commander is not a good commander. Nanako would have already gone to bed by now, and it would be very uncool of him to phone her now. Even if he calls her, she would probably advise him to go to sleep and think about later, maybe some short words of advice before asking to call her tomorrow at most. And his mom too, what would she think of her son staying up this late without her knowledge? She would get all riled up, worrying if the club is pushing him too far and maybe even barring him from participating.
Thankfully, it will be the day after tomorrow that the JHF would organize the match against Suleiman, and in Towada-Hachimantai National Park too, located in their home prefecture. This removes the transportation burden they have to bear, but it would likely not mitigate Suleiman's combat in the slightest. It is a definite fact that they should expect the Turks not to go easy on them. Notwithstanding all that above, he still has some time to formulate a clear directive before going to battle. It isn't a lot, but it is something.
Even then, when he gets himself onto bed, relaxing all of muscles after a hard day training and studying, a thought bitterly persists in his mind as his mind drifts into unconsciousness. "Why am I dealt such shitty hands to play with?"
"Maybe I can lead the Jandarma onto a goose chase and waste their ammunitions… But that also risks manpower loss. Not to mention, the goose cannot be large, else we cannot retain great mobility. And then there's also the main force we have to deal with, too." Araki mumbles to himself as he looks upon the now reddened sky of Aomori. By tomorrow morning, they would have to greet Suleiman's student to Aomori and lead them to the national park. He has to figure things out by now if he wants some peace of mind for tonight. And yet, this problem seems to have ascended to become a dilemma instead. His face's muscles tense up in frustration as he tries to dig for any other ideas, only for the search to end in complete futility. He forms his hand into a fist, ready to smack the air around him for the third time today.
All of a sudden, another student grabs his hand. "Hey, don't get so antsy, alright captain? Or should I say… sergeant Yamamoto?" The figure breaks out a shit eating grin.
Araki, noticing the absolutely false mention of the rank he currently has, immediately turns to the guy, knowing the one that just talked to him. It is none other than fellow first year, and once candidate for the commander position Nagumo Shousuke. "Oh, it's you."
"Yep, that's me." Sergeant Nagumo sharply exhales through his nose. "It has been a while since I've seen you this close again. I still hate you for pulling such a move during the Defusal match though, sergeant."
Araki raises his left hand and forms a stop sign. "Please, call me captain. And you did well during the match, too. You able to effectively counter my rush tactics is already a proof of your tactical prowess, sergeant. And I hold no grudges against you. It was just a battle for who is best. Once that is done, don't think too much about it." Then he forms a fist, though the movement that the fist entails suggests no hostility. "So… how's the recent Tigr-M drill going, sergeant?"
Sergeant Nagumo bumps his fist onto Araki's, understanding it is no time to relive any kind of rivalry. "It's going pretty good. Specialists Fujihara and Fukushima especially helped us a lot on the hit and run maneuver, while sergeant Kravchenko gave us great insights on how to use these light assets effectively against enemy infantry and soft-skinned units. It can prove to be useful for our upcoming match against Suleiman. What about you? Do you have any idea on how to proceed, captain?"
"Ah…" Araki pauses awkwardly, acting as if an idea suddenly springs up to him. Many bursts of machine gun fire from the Kord in the vehicle practice later, however, and Araki just let his arms flow down with gravity. "I don't have any. It's almost match day now, and I still have no idea on a way in which we can cleanly beat the Turks. They just… have too much fucking firepower. Like, how do you expect us to win when we don't have BMPs and BTRs, while they have modernized MG42s and handheld, rapid fire explosive devices? We just can't!"
Sergeant Nagumo cannot help but to groan in frustration along with the captain. "Y-Yeah… Those Muslims are too powerful in infantry combat to formulate any kind of plans for head on fights, that's for sure. What about avoidance though? Have you ever thought of that?"
"Yes. But then there's their Jandarma platoon." Araki mentions, his frustration growing even more. "I bet Suleiman already planned for us to immediately steer clear from them, and specifically ask for the Jandarma to hunt us down. Given the amount of videos I managed to watch to collect data on Suleiman, they are no joke, especially in infantry shock and awe tactics. Heck, they might even straight up steal our stuff if we don't guard it carefully, too!"
"…Hold up!" Shousuke widens his eyes. "They can steal items we left at our starting points?"
"Well… I don't see the rule mentioning that, but better be safe than sorry. There are no explicit mentions of stealing items being outlawed in Hohei-do games."
"Actually, it is even encouraged that teams make use of enemy equipment if possible." Another officer intercepted. "It is thought that the rule was put in place for underdog schools to have a chance against richer, more powerful and technologically advanced schools, helping Hohei-do avoid the same single school dominance foreseen in Sensha-do, most apparent being Kuromorimine's 9-year victory streak."
This sudden intervention got the officers who were busy talking to turn at the speaker giving his 2 cents. And to no one's surprise, it's the all-knowing, yet insensitive Alexander Margelov.
"Oh, not you too, lieutenant…" Araki notes with a hint of annoyance. "And I don't think it is common for us to gain access to the enemy's logistic trucks, much less their BTRs and BMPs. Not to mention, I don't think any of us will be using the enemy's guns anyway, unless we have like… no ammo left or something."
"But it's something to keep in mind." Lieutenant Margelov keeps up the smartass attitude.
"Like it will help us in our upcoming match anyway, lieutenant…" Araki groans. "And yes, I am still salty over the fact that I picked such a shitty matchup."
"No use being all pissed off about it, captain." Sergeant Nagumo steers the conversation back to the important matter at hand, though he doesn't forget to add an underhand comment to. "It's not like you to be all grumpy. Or at least… this is the first time I've seen you this serious."
"My first impression at the assembly hall didn't help, eh?" Araki snaps back at the sergeant.
"I thought you were the playful type, captain."
"Well, I usually am, but Suleiman is living rent free in my head at the moment."
"Yeah…"
"I really help right now, to be honest. Anyone of you have ideas? And no, just avoiding contact won't work, nor will a head on fight."
The three officers stay silent for a bit, trying to think of a solution. It takes them quite a while, even to the point where the sun starts dipping behind the mountains. But atlas, sergeant Nagumo manages to concoct something up. "What if we ambush them and steal their recovered items back? We can cause heavy casualties for Suleiman while we are at it."
"…Hm, good idea. But how can we also not suffer the same fate as them, and risk being cleaned up by remaining elements?" Araki asks, to which the sergeant immediately answers back.
"My squad and I will be acting as a shadow squad, making noises throughout the land to perhaps confuse them. Maybe we'll rummage some light items and stack them on our truck if possible, too. We will try to avoid as much contact as possible to minimize losses too."
"But once you raided their starting point, they will likely chase after us in retaliation, captain." The lieutenant added.
"Once that happen, we'll just hightail our way back to base. Of course a unit should be dedicated to guarding the base too, though I advise against shooting incoming units. I've got a sneaking suspicion they may use their Jandarma platoon just for that." Then Araki waves off the other two officers, one foot already stepping away from them. "В любом случае... вас уволят. (Anyway… you are to be dismissed.) I'll go to the vehicle practice ground to oversee the Tigr training progress. Don't take your eyes off your men today, okay? We will need them in top form if we want to secure a victory tomorrow. Так точно? (You copy?)"
"Так точно, капитан Ямамото. (Copy, captain Yamamoto.)" Lieutenant Margelov salutes.
"Me too, captain." Sergeant Nagumo follows suit.
Araki salutes them back before waving them off, this time in Russian. "Вольно! (At ease!)"
And so, they spread out to do their own thing again.
"Any second now… Any second now…" Araki mumbles to himself as he watches the clock on the phone. The time is 04:25, and the sun hasn't even bothered to peek out of the mountains yet. However, he expects Suleiman Academy's Hohei-do club members to be arriving at Shin-Aomori station at this time, or at least should be, according to train schedules and all that.
"Ugh, tell me why we have to come here and welcome them again?" Mikhail groans from inside the Tigr. "I could really be getting some sleep right now."
"Maybe he is scared they be as lost as us when we first arrived at Kumamoto, Misha?" Andrey decided to join in the conversation.
"Maybe. But why does he wake us up!?" Mikhail pointed at Araki.
"He didn't wake you up. He woke me up because I am the only one aside from Ringo who can drive. You just decided to also hitch a ride, wanting take a look at the Turks." Andrey said, keeping his tone unaffected by any emotion.
"Oh, yeah…" Mikhail dejectedly sloped down on the gunner seat of the Tigr.
"Also, you wanted to get a feel for the Kord, да?"
"Да..." Mikhail then places his arm onto the car's roof and uses it as a pillar for his head to rest on, groaning lowly at his irrationally.
"What about you, Kanata? Did you manage to get any sleep?"
"Barely." Kanata yawns after answering. "I was so excited to see what Suleiman has in store, I couldn't sleep until 1 hour past midnight. A cup of coffee would be great right now."
"Uh… You can just sleep in the car now. It's just the 4 of us in this little jeep, after all. You got yourself some space to stretch your legs."
"U-Uh, I guess…" Kanata takes off his backpack and leaves the AK onto the ground of the car, stretching his back and making himself as comfortable as possible. "Remember to call me if they come, alright? I want to see their fabled Hitler's… sawmill or something."
"It's Hitler's buzz saw."
"Right, Hitler's buzz saw and every grenadier's wet dream."
"Ah yes, the Milkor MGL. I wonder why they even issue that…"
"Don't know, but it would be awesome to see it in person, hehe!"
"Yes yes, private…"
"Whatever, I'm getting some shuteye now." Kanata snores afterward, falling asleep as fast as a newborn baby.
Sighing through his breath, Andrey opens the door and heads outside to where the captain is standing. "So… they are not here?"
"Yeah. It's almost time though and uh…"
"You wanted them to have a good first impression about us, captain?"
"Not really, I don't really care much about it. But… maybe I just want to see how they are. Something good might pop up on our way to the battleground."
"Alright." Andrey nods slowly. "What about the others, then?"
"They'll arrive at the park, at roughly 05:45. I expect them to be on time, given that we are basically military personnel. Maybe some of the girls crewing the BTRs and BMPs come to see and cheer for us, but we will be on our own out there. I do not expect these guys to go easy on us even with the welcome though, Andrey."
"I don't think anyone wants that, frankly. It is better to fight with all we got than to back down, captain."
"Correct." Right as Araki stops with the conversation, the rhythmic sound of rail wheels colliding with the joints of the railway, alongside a loud horn and a skidding sound as the train slowly comes to a stop, arriving at the station. When the train comes to a complete halt, a train station staff comes to unlock the door of the passenger cart. After that is done to all the passenger carts, he moves on to help the JHF staff on unloading the shipment on the train. The heavy cargo on the train being unloaded today is just some typical utility trucks and some jeeps that have M2 Browning HMG mounted on it. The name is Cobra, Araki overheard from the JHF staff talking.
Although it takes quite a while, probably to change to the appropriate combat attire and to gear up, the commander of Suleiman Academy finally comes out, head of the line. He moves out of the way for other men to get out of the cart. Araki takes a long and careful look at the boy, and the guy returns the same gaze at him. He wears combat gear painted with woodland camo, slinging a G3 behind his back and has a small, yet tacticool sunglasses on his face, contrasting Araki's bulkier eyewear he himself wears.
"So… This is Aomori, I guess?" The commander asked Araki.
"Yes, this is Aomori."
"Alright." The commander nods. "If I were to ask, you are the new commander of Krasnaya Zvezda?"
"Да." Araki gives his hand out. "The name's Yamamoto Araki, callsign Igor."
"Callsign Igor? Hm… You really are like the second coming of Zhukov, huh?"
"No, I am not. I highly doubt I am, anyway."
"Alright, alright. If you say so…" The captain of Suleiman clears his throat. "I'm Hojo Mamoru, callsign Simit. Nice to meet you, mister Yamamoto."
"Same goes to me, mister Hojo." Araki pauses for a bit, before continuing. "Do you need us to lead you to arena?"
Mamoru waves off. "No need, we already studied the road around here. But thank you for asking."
"Alright, I guess I should pack things up and get going then?"
"Not until I get to see the buzz saw in person, captain." Kanata places a hand onto Araki's shoulder with a smug expression. "Come on, let this guy live out his little fantasy for a bit, will you?"
"Uh…" Araki looks at Kanata, then looks back to Mamoru, wondering if it is too sudden to ask a favor like that.
Able to read the room very clearly, however, Mamoru gives out a thumbs up and gestures towards one of the soldiers carrying an MG3. "Come on, I'll show you some of the stuff we got."
"Yippee!" Kanata's voice suddenly becomes extremely childish, as he jumps up and down in excitement, shaking his fist rapidly. "Show me the way, sir!"
"Alright, alright. Just calm down, please. I don't want you to accidentally sabotage our equipment." Mamoru moves his hand up and down.
"No, I won't, sir! To break any of these beauties is a shameful thing of which I will not do, sir!" Kanata reassures, his voice turning stern as he feels a bit offended that anyone could think of destroying the terrific MG42.
"Okay, good." Mamoru then turns to Araki. "What about you? Do you want to take a look?"
"No thanks. I'll be back at the Tigr waiting, okay Kanata? Once we're done, we'll rendezvous to the national park." Araki said, using gestures to aid in the process of communication.
"Gotcha!" Kanata gives a thumbs up back at Araki, to which Araki smirks as he returns to the Kord mounted Tigr, its driver checking the car to be sure it is functional, while the Kord gunner has already fallen asleep, his saliva dripping onto the roof of the jeep.
As Kanata tags along with the commander of Suleiman Academy, Mamoru suddenly stops at the one with the big machine gun. "Hey, you mind giving this fellow here an introduction to the thing you're holding there?"
The soldier looks dumbfounded for a second. "Uh… What exactly?"
Mamoru points at the machine gun. "That thing."
The Turkish soldier suddenly widens his eyes. "Ah, you mean this?" He slaps onto the feeding cover. "This bad boy right here? It's the MG3 – the legitimate daughter of the renowned MG42." The gunner's grin becomes larger and larger as he gets into the details. "She weighs 11.5 kilograms and fires 7.62 NATO rounds that packs way more punch than the feeble 5.56. Capable of dispensing 1000 tickets to heaven, I think anyone who is wise will refuse to stand in its line of fire." Then he suddenly breaks out a laugh not to dissimilar to a cartoonish villain, before calming down and pet the gun endearingly. "I love you, my lovely little bebek."
"So uh… Do you have anything else?" Kanata raises his hand up.
"Ah, we do actually! Want to check out our grenade launcher?" Mamoru suddenly grabs a noob tube from one of Suleiman's member. "Sorry, gotta borrow this for a moment." He said to the guy, which he nodded though somewhat begrudgingly, before turning back to Kanata. "Do you have any ideas what this is?"
"Ah… It looks like those weapons you would find in a Far Cry game. Grenade launcher, semi-automatic, bulky and unreliable as hell."
"Well… you got all that right, minus the unreliable part. This is the Milkor MGL. It's a South African deisgn, though they have given Turkïye the license to produce them. It has been with us since the beginning of Suleiman, and I don't think any of us would be parting away with it anytime soon, though we still issue under-barrel grenade launchers for some units for their smaller sizes. And as you might have guess, all of these instruments of war pack great punches to basically eliminate any infantry opposition."
"Yeah…" Kanata clenches his fist in excitement. "This kind of makes me worried about the match we have today."
"You should be." Mamoru huffs through his nose. "Oh and one more thing… Do you have any recommendations for any food shop near here? I'm feeling a bit hungry right now." He whispers to the boy.
"Huh? Uh… Well, it's pretty early in the day right now, so the best you get would be convenience store stuff. Sorry about that."
"No worries. Right now I only care about getting my stomach full." And to that, Mamoru's stomach growled very loudly. "I think you understand." He chuckles.
"Alright then… There's a Lawson on the South exit of Shin-Aomori. It opens 24/7, so you're good to grab a bite there."
"Alright. I'll see myself out for now. Meet you guys at Towada-Hachimantai National Park!" The commander informally salutes before going to the shop on foot, leaving Kanata to stand there observing the Suleiman students checking on their equipment and doing basic maintenance to them to ensure maximum performance. He observed the jeeps and the trucks that are still being unloaded, but they didn't seem to be anything special. They're just your average light vehicle like the HMMVW or the Tigr, Kanata supposed. The name for the jeeps are Cobra, he overheard from the Suleiman soldiers just discussing shenanigans to pass the time.
Suddenly, Kanata hears a voice on his left ear. "Kanata, are you there? Mic check, mic check!"
"Yes, I'm here! You were asking?" Kanata raises his left hand to interact with the earpiece.
"Are you done with your stuff? We're raring to go now." The voice, now known to be Andrey with his fatherly vibes, spouted out.
"Alright, alright! I'm coming!" Kanata replied, being quick on his feet and getting back to the Tigr, where his squadmates are waiting.
Back inside the Tigr, Kanata lets out a relaxing groan as he snuggles into the back passenger seat of the car. "Ah, so good…"
"So… Did you learn anything new?" Araki turns to the back asking.
"Ah well… Apparently what you kept referring to as Hitler's buzz saw isn't actually the original Hitler's buzz saw. It's a modified, retrofitted version of it called the MG3. Also, I have my first time seeing an MG3. It…" Kanata clutches his hand. "It was great. Oh and there's the grenade launcher too! Great stuff! Apparently all those grenade launchers I use in games are actually from South Africa, though the Turks manage to get a license to produce them domestically."
"Anything else?"
"Well, there's the jeeps I saw, but it's just like any other jeep, really. You use them drive around, and you can mount machine guns on them."
"…That's it?" Andrey turns back, too.
"Yeah, that's about it."
"Well, I guess we should get going then." Andrey starts the Tigr up, the engine roaring like a tiger before purring rhythmically. The Russian boy doesn't forget to slap Mikhail's legs, waking him up however. "Восстань и сияй, жопа! (Rise and shine, doofus!)
Mikhail groans from the roof of the Tigr, some of the saliva still dropping off his mouth. It doesn't take him long to get his bearing and wipe the saliva off his mouth. "Are we going, Andrey?"
"Да, Миша. (Yes, Misha.)" Andrey answers, switching the Tigr's gear from neutral to first, then stepping onto the gas pedal.
And just like that, they are en route to Aomori's Hohei-do battleground – Towada-Hachimantai National Park.
Having filled their stomachs with Yamamoto Kimiko's specially made breakfast basket that Araki carried and put in the back of the car, the gang waits for everyone else to arrive. The first group to arrive is Krasnaya Zvezda's Hohei-do club members, moving in by the KamAZ trucks and Tigr jeeps. They all salute to each other, hoping that they will manage to achieve victory over the tough opponent. Once the Krasnaya convoy has parked to the roadside near Mountain Mama's Shop, the JHF referee team also arrived in their vans. One of them even has a drone and a controller to pair with it, too. Lastly, the Suleiman convoy finally arrives to the scene, the commander of the club waving everyone at the entrance to the park. Then, they all line up, man and vehicles, paralleling each other to initiate the typical match start greetings. The two commanders step out of the line, though there are no second in command officers today because of the game mode being played.
Since this match is played on Krasnaya Zvezda's home field, they have to start, and to that, the commander of the school complies.
"I'm Yamamoto Araki, first year, callsign Igor. Commander and platoon leader of the light mechanized unit, though I will be leading the motorized platoon for today."
Mamoru quickly follows suit. "And I'm Hojo Mamoru, second year, callsign Simit. Commander and platoon leader of the motorized unit."
Once the introduction part is done, the two commanders bow to each other and chant the same sacred word used to start a Hohei-do match. "Let us have a good game!"
Afterwards, the teams move away from each other and into their respectively starting position, with Suleiman Academy and Krasnaya Zvezda High School going to the northwestern and southeastern part of the park respectively.
When the two teams finally done with their set up, the commanders both radio back to the JHF referee team.
"We're ready, sir!" Araki called from the southeastern side.
"We are also ready, too!" Mamoru phoned from the northwestern side.
The referees nod to each other and fire a flare high up into the sky, signifying the beginning of the first ever battle of the 18th National Hohei-do Tournament.
As the Russian convoy moves along the mountainous road with an ever present strumming of the acoustic guitar Hikaru owns, Araki calls out to the platoon to brief everyone on their specific missions. "Alright, do you guys hear me?"
"Loud and clear, captain."
"Так точно."
"We hear you, captain."
"Solid copy."
"Solid, sergeant."
Araki got annoyed at the last person's response for a little, but he continues on. "Alright team, I'm sure you have already known who we are facing against this match."
"Suleiman Academy…" An officer muttered openly in the comms.
"Yes, Suleiman Academy. They are thought to be some of best school in terms of infantry combat, but their armored units aren't up to par for near peer combat. However, since the BTRs and the BMPs aren't going to be here saving our asses today, I have to devise us a new plan instead of the typical mobile firebase doctrine we have."
"Do we still utilize these Kord mounted Tigr, sir?"
"Yes, they would be crucial for our operation today."
"Anyway, can you just get straight to the point today, sergeant Igor?"
"It's captain Igor, sergeant Nagumo." Araki said annoyingly. "And yes, I won't beat around the bushes. Nagumo, I need you to act as a diversion unit. For this, your squad are given Kord mounted Tigr that you are driving right now and a logistic truck. I need you to make as much noise as possible while keeping yourself from eliminated so that Spetsnaz squad and mine will be able to execute an infiltration onto Suleiman's starting point. Other squad, remain vigilant and continue as usual. Feel free to be flexible with the mission if the chance arises, though."
"Так точно." All the other sergeants shouted enthusiastically.
"Okay… With that out of the way, Igor out." Araki then cut the comms and turn to Andrey who is driving the truck. "Andrey, bring us to Suleiman's starting position. Make sure to avoid any contact with the Turks, clear?"
"Copy that. We're hiding now." Andrey turns the steering wheel to the left and downshifts, parking the truck into a hidden spot behind the rows of trees. The Tigr that doesn't have a Kord mounted on it also follows with the truck, waiting for Suleiman's convoy to bite the bait.
Once the infiltration units have started doing their part, Nagumo's squad sitting on the 2 Kord mounted Tigrs speeds up to catch the approaching Suleiman soldiers. Other squads also split off, either to search the houses and forests around for documents or vehicle needed for recovery. One truck, however, is parked to the side of the road, with the soldiers quickly dismounting off it and taking key positions in the forested hill nearby. They weren't told by Araki, but the squad leader decided they should cover the retreat of the decoys ahead.
And he was right to make that call.
Nagumo's Tigr, now with its engine turned off, sits perpendicular to the bridge that the gunner – Nagumo Shousuke is watching. The squad leader can already hear some of the engines roaring through the trees.
"They're coming…" He calmly noted to the squad. The Automatic Rifleman has already set up his RPK-74M's bipod, now in the prone position. The medic stays right by to the left of the road, hiding himself in the bushes, his AK-74M hugged tightly closed to his torso as he waits for a signal. The grenadier has loaded his RPG-7V2 with the OG-7V fragmentation warhead, with 1 more already held in hand by the rifleman nearby, acting as the assisting loader for the tube. The other rifleman remains on standby, keeping the perimeter secured from any flanking maneuver, though the only maneuver that Suleiman could have done would be swimming across the river, of which sergeant would have already called it out by now. But still, better safe than sorry, so the rifleman keeps a close on the water passage.
Glimpses of trucks and jeeps flutter throughout the tree line, making Shousuke's finger on the trigger becoming more and more jumpy by the seconds. He wants to shoot so bad, but he needs to wait for the perfect opportunity, because there is a saying 'Never interrupt the enemy when he is making a mistake.', to which has been proven correct again, as the leading jeep blitzes on the road and comes straight at the Tigr, giving the Kord gunner a clear shot.
Observing that the moment is nigh, Shousuke shouted out as he holds onto the trigger. "Fire at will!" The Kord screams like a wild animal, aggressive spitting 12.7mm rounds at the leading jeep. The driver and passengers inside the jeep immediately bails out upon witnessing heavy fire of the machine gun, though the gunner of the jeep isn't so lucky, not able to leave before the jeep breaks down and raises up a white flag. He is the first participant to be eliminated. The other solders quickly run back to the north side of the bridge, returning decent fire at the Shousuke. However, those men are also quickly gunned down by the RPK-74M. The infantry sitting on the only truck tailing the jeep also get off the vehicle quickly and take positions around the bank, shooting back at the opposition, to which Nagumo's squad also take the fight head on. With a RPG-7 shot from the grenadier somehow fired accurately under suppression from the MG3, some of Suleiman's men got knocked out, while others are shaken up by the explosion. Some of the shouting, though diffused by the gunner, can be heard from the banks of the small river.
"Ah, we got man down! We got man down!"
"Gunner, do your job better, dammit!"
"I'm trying! Fucker fired an RPG-7 while being spoon fed with lead!"
"Medic! I need a medic!"
"Medic's coming! Get in here, it's safer!"
The grenadier is quickly taken out by the opposition, to which the rifleman assisting him immediately starts pulling him out of danger. "Need a medic and some covering fire here!"
"Copy!" The automatic rifleman quickly gets off the ground and repositions to near where the grenadier is. He fires some rounds unsupported before running empty.
"I'm empty, cover me!"
"Right!" The rifleman pulls the trigger and fires some shots at the general direction of the bank, as the gunner reloads the RPK-74M as fast as humanely possible. It doesn't take long though, and the gunner is already online, now firing the gun in a supported position.
"Medic! Medic!" The rifleman cries out, lugging the heavy body back as the medic makes a run for it.
"Gun's empty! Reloading!" Shousuke shouts, already taking out the empty box of bullets.
"Got you covered, sir!" The automatic gunner ramps up his suppressing effort, emptying a few more 45 rounds mag.
"Sir, reporting enemy movement on the banks! They're swimming across!" Suddenly a squadmate of his shouted on comms.
"Repeat that!" Shousuke responded as he lines up the 12.7mm round on the feeding tray of the gun. "Didn't catch you the first time there!"
"I said, enemy movement across the river! They're getting across, and they're going fast too! Counted roughly about 2 squads!"
"Heard you!" Shousuke responded before issuing a retreat. "Everyone, start pulling back! They've taken the bait!" He then continues his fire mission on the Kord.
The squad quickly moves to the Tigrs, one that Nagumo is currently using as a firing platform, while the other is hidden in the back forest. When the Tigr in the back is filled up with people, however, a flash suddenly zips across Shousuke's eyes and collides with the Tigr, making it raise a white flag as the engine smokes in black and leaving Shousuke's mouth wide open.
The remaining members who are in the Tigr Nagumo is firing knocks on his leg. "Squad leader. Squad leader."
The sergeant remains frozen in fear, his finger totally off the trigger.
"Squad leader! Squad leader!"
"Wake the fuck up, хуй!"
The swearing finally got the squad leader to wake up from his daze. He shakes up his head, as well as his mental. "Go go go. Drive it back!"
"Starting the engine, sir!" The driver says as he turns the keys rapidly. It is to not avail, however, and the Tigr refuses to be jumpstart.
"Get it back on as soon as possible, then we're out of here!" Sergeant Nagumo shouts out again, somehow getting his voice through even with the heavy fighting. However, the Kord suddenly only produces clicks instead of bangs. "Kord's empty again!" He rowdily takes the box off the mount and drops it inside the car, before bringing up another box full of leads and trying to reload the gun with shaking hands.
All of a sudden, an explosive on the bridge, before a follow up one finds it mark right beside the Tigr standing. It is right then, though, that the Tigr's engine roars loudly amongst the gunfire. "Got it!" The driver shouted loudly, clenching his fist with relief.
"Nice!" The sergeant shouted. "Now get us the hell out of the here!"
"Yes sir!"
"What about the other guy!? He's still alive!"
"No time to stay! We have to go!" Shousuke argued. "Those Turks are going to get us killed with another shot."
Right when Shousuke mentioned that, another munition grazed by before hitting the trees in the back, exploding in a fiery ball of death.
"See!?" Shousuke immediately shouted, firing the Kord again.
"Wait, is that…"
"Yeah, that's it! To the west!"
Sergeant Nagumo quickly turns his head to the appointed direction, and sees a Russian soldier running for his life, as explosions and bullets trail right behind. However, the current position of the Tigr leaves it exposes to a two prong attack. As such, Shousuke asks the driver. "Drive near the guy! Get away from the Turks at the front!" Then he brings his left hand to the earpiece as he one hands the Kord. "Haruto, that's you running there!"
"Yes sir!" The rifleman answers loudly, though out of breath from all the running.
"We're picking you up! I'm going to cover you with the Kord, then we are out of here!"
"Yes sir!" Haruto shouts, running to where the Tigr is heading.
When the Tigr is finally near to the soldier running away, Haruto speedily opens the door, enters the car and then swiftly closes it in. Hardly had he gotten inside than an explosion occurs right outside the Tigr, however.
Shousuke, though shake pretty heavily by the danger close explosion and gunfire, shouts with zeal. "Get us out! Drive like hell!"
The driver has kicked the gas pedal and driven away from the approaching Suleiman units before Shousuke even called that out. "Already doing that!" He shouts as he continues to pedal to the metal. Some of Suleiman's units try chasing the Tigr and firing on it, but it all proves fruitless as the driver of it executes evasive driving, dodging any grenades launched onto them.
"Great, they're gone." A Suleiman soldier spoke with frustration.
"Those Russians already took out a squad!" Another one shouted out in anger.
"It's actually two halves of each squad." One of the soldiers added, to which he got knocked on the head by his fellow men.
"Shut up! Who asks for your semantics!?"
"Let's chase those Orthodoxies down! Come on, all onto the truck!" One of the squad leader suggested, getting onto the truck.
"Good copy!" Another one runs into the driver seat of the jeep.
"We're going, too!" One more mounted himself on one of the vehicles on the convoy
"What about the Jandarma, sir?"
"They're finding some stuff in the north side right now. I think they can handle themselves just fine though. They are elite for a reason."
"Yes yes, I get it."
"Anyway, haul ass!" The squad leader presses the gas pedal in neutral gear, vrooming the engine up.
"Sir, yes sir!" All the remaining forces that weren't wiped out quickly gets onto the remaining assets that the convoy has.
"Mayday, mayday! Enemy contact at bridge!" Shousuke shouted on the comms. "We're bringing them down south right now!"
"Copy. We already have a defensive line set up here on the road. Just head down south and regroup."
"We are also reporting enemy movement right now." Another voice, more commanding than anyone else on the comms, utters.
"Captain? That's you?"
"Yep. I'm hearing some engine noises. Seems like they are too focused on chasing whatever that caught them up at the bridge there."
"That was my squad, sir."
"Alright. I think you guys know what to do, да?"
"Yes, captain."
"Yes, Igor."
"Alright, we'll start to carry out our plans once they pass by us. Igor out."
Taking off his hand from the earpiece, he grins at his fellow squadmates, who are almost bored to death from just standing around keeping perimeter security. "Boys, looks like the party is coming straight to us this time."
"Heck yes!" One jumps up into air, feeling all giddy.
"Finally, about time!" Another soldier groans.
"What are we doing now, sir?"
"We're taking up positions for the upcoming encounter against enemy infantry. Gunner, stay by the trees in the back. Anti-tank, ready up the RPG-7. One of the rifleman stands by the anti-tank for further assistance. One of the medic stay around the squad, the other sticks with the gunner. We're going to need him up as long as possible, since he has the PKP. Oh right… I need another rifleman to stay by the gunner for assistance. The other two, stick with me, we're going up north to scout out. And combat engineer, wait for friendlies to pass, then lay down the mines. Is that clear?"
"Clear, sir!" Everyone responded on the radio and went on with the ambush plan.
The Turkish convoy drives straight through Krasnaya Zvezda's infiltration unit, their vehicles' engine screaming loudly alongside the battle cries of Suleiman soldiers.
"Give the Russians hell!"
"Let them pay for what they did!"
"Pesky Orthodoxies, they are stupid to think they can outgun us!"
"Chase the Krasnaya Zvezda cowards! They've definitely pissed their pants, running away like this!"
"Yeah!"
The loud cheering and battle cries slowly subside with the engine noises becoming less and less audible over time. In short, Krasnaya Zvezda has succeeded in their initial plan.
"So, do we go now, captain Igor?" The Spetnaz squad leader asks, already turning the Tigr's engine on and raring to go. However, Araki gets his hand through the truck's window and puts up a stop sign. Immediately, the sergeant stops to listen to anymore Suleiman units coming down the road, only to hear the chirping of the birds. "Heh?" He utters, being confused on what the commander is planning to do other than waiting a bit more.
Some time passes by, the birds keep on chirping and the wind keeps on blowing the leaves. A harsh silence coats amongst the infiltration unit. No one says anything, to anyone, fearing they may miss out on something crucial to their objectives. But, nothing came… at least from their place.
"Reporting down south, Nagumo's squad has returned down south, though sustained a loss of a Tigr and 4 personnel. We have already set up a defense and are ready to engage."
Araki stays silent, waiting for further report on the convoy, to which another one comes through from the same person. "Spotted enemy convoy heading down south. Permission to fire, captain?"
Araki stays silent again, as if to give the squad leader some breathing room for the command he is giving. Then, he orders with a commanding tone. "Огонь по готовности."
"…What?" The squad leader exclaims, prompting Araki to repeat the line, this time in Japanese.
"Fire at will."
The sergeant on the other side of the line pauses for a second, before following it through. "Understood, sir."
"Good. We'll be initiating our infiltration, too."
"Copy, sir. Good luck out there, captain."
Araki smirks as he mutters to the earpiece. "You too, sergeant." Then the transmission is cut, signaling him to point his hand towards the front. "We're moving now."
"Good to know." The Spetsnaz sergeant nods and starts the engine up. The trucks in the front also does the same. Once that is done, the Tigr moves to the front while the truck full of supplies trails behind, the infiltrating convoy now heading north to gather some items needed recovering and maybe to face against remaining hostile units staying back at the north side of the river. Distancing gunfire can be heard far down south as they drive to the only bridge crossing the small river.
"I can't believe they would fall for the oldest trick in the book." The sergeant chuckles as he drives along the roads up north, feeling relaxed and relieved from the stress of having to fight directly against the Turkish school, to which Araki responded with another chuckle to join in, too.
And yet, in his gut, he feels that he hasn't faced against the best of Suleiman yet.
With all the vehicles now parked off road near the ditches, the gang walk up to Yachi Osen – a placed that is marked to contain an item needed for recovery. Araki's squad have already made it near the parking lot of the onsen, while the Spetsnaz group are responsible for overwatching the outside road.
"Spetsnaz, Spetsnaz, this is command squad, come in." Araki whispers to the earpiece.
"We hear you, loud and clear captain." The sergeant on the other end answers. "Nothing on our side right now, you're safe to search the residence."
"Copy." Araki puts his hand away from the earpiece, then gestures to move towards the building in front of them. Everyone follows through, being as well coordinated as a well-oiled machine.
When they emerge from the dense forest, they come across an empty parking lot devoid of any civilian vehicles. It is as if this national park is a tiny warzone in of itself, completely isolated from the outside world.
"You see anything up front, Araki?" Mikhail asks quietly as he walks in the middle of the group, not wanting to break their concealment.
"I've got nothing here. Completely empty." Araki whispers.
"Alright…" Mikhails nods before going prone and putting down his RPK-74M to use it with the bipod.
"Kisaragi, scout ahead, will you?"
"A-Alright, captain!" Kisaragi whispers back enthusiastically, though he still trips over his tongue. He swiftly walks up front before disappearing in the bushes. Then, a long 15-minute passes by with Kisaragi going dark on the radio. It feels like an eternity, and an anxious one at that. Maybe Kisaragi got discovered and gunned down? Maybe he got captured and held hostage to rat them out. Thankfully however, given Kisaragi naturally born ability to be hard to spot with his small posture and his silent movement, he returns to the squad safely and even greets him with a small little jumpscare.
Araki yelps, but immediately stops before his high yelp can trigger any kind of unwanted movement from Suleiman. But even then, some of birds have already flown off because of it. "Shit, don't scare me like that, Kisaragi!" The squad leader scolded quietly.
"S-Sorry!" Kisaragi's body languages lines up with his own apology. "I-I just don't want to a-alert anyone."
"Well, then at least tell me beforehand so I don't get spooked!" Araki snapped back, to which Kisaragi can only bite his lips and blame himself.
"Anyhow, are you sure this is the right place to search, squad leader?" Andrey asks, his AK-74M still up to hold perimeter security.
"I'm sure it is. I remember that this place is one of many points of interest."
"Well, why don't we search other places then? There's one more right down the road. And… didn't you say for us to infiltrate straight into Suleiman's starting position?" Kanata argued.
"Because while we were on the road, I thought about it for a second to realize… it is very much an unwise move. Bold, yes, but not beneficial to our success. If we get wiped out while we try to execute heist of the century, our team would be left with probably 2 to 3 squads left to defend our own starting point. Also, I remember that the items are usually spread pretty evenly across the arena, so let's just take as much as we need and remain as light as possible for the exfiltration. Thus, I don't think recovering a truck would be a good idea."
"And you are saying we don't have to take a truck back to our place at this hot spring?"
"I've already studied the map carefully, don't worry. We only have to take some small items and equipment here, then we bail."
"Alright… I believe you, squad leader." Moteru finally joins in. "Let's search this place up and see if we can find anything."
"Let us proceed, then. Rudolfo and Moteru, stay outside for security and recon. Everyone else, split up and search the whole place."
"Good copy, sir." Moteru informally salutes to the captain.
"Already on it." Rudolfo responded, characteristically as uninterested as usual.
"Finally getting some action." Mikhail grins, closing in on Araki.
"Please, don't put yourself in harm's way again, Misha." Andrey begged, to which he received the typical response from the Russian boy.
"No promises." The boy with the RPK-74M continues to grin at the advice, not giving much of a fuck about it.
Araki does his typical hand dances and points towards the residence. "Alright men, no time to play around. We're getting into work now."
And thus, they start the search on the whole place, as a group of Suleiman motorized infantry unit park their vehicles in a spot hidden away from Spetsnaz's scanning eyes and move towards the onsen, looking for some important stuff to retrieve also.
It has been a very quiet while since they have entered the building and started searching the place up. A very scary quiet while, because they know for certain the enemy should have been starting to sniff out where they are now. And if not, they should find them out, sooner or later.
Regardless of that guaranteed fact however, the crew keeps on clearing the building, stair by stair, room by room.
Suddenly, Araki receives a transmission. "Squad leader, got anything from your side?"
"Nothing here. What about you, Andrey?"
"We got some stuff. Some papers packed nicely into a folder, some weapons that are not loaded. We have already stored it in our backpacks. We are still looking for more though."
"Good. I'll continue searching, then."
"Copy."
Peeking out the corner as carefully as possible, the hallway right around the corner is still green to go with no hostile in sight. The small 3-man group consisting of Araki himself, Kisaragi and Kanata follow closely to each other, remembering to keep security at all times. This is pretty much Suleiman's territory, after all.
Araki gestures with a nod to move along the hallways, checking any room that has its door not locked. The actions taken for the search is done to minimize as much audio as possible, not giving the opposition a chance to hear them out and locate them. Being the one with the lightest feet, Kisaragi leads the group, his gun holds true to the front of him, his trigger finger twitchy and ready for any encounter.
"C-Checking the hallway c-connecting the buildings r-right now." Kisaragi, still stumbling with his words, calls out, to which the ones following him nod.
All of a sudden, two Suleiman soldiers appear right in front of them, their guns held up high as they ready to engage. Unlike the other Turkish soldiers, they carry rifles that while look similar to the G3, have the furniture be completely black instead of dark green, and their mags curve more than their 7.62 brother. Nonetheless, with 4 clicks on the trigger, Kisaragi takes out the Suleiman personnel without causing much of a ruckus. The loud gunfire noises will definitely start to attract more and more Suleiman units though, so they are on a tight timer now.
"We have hostile contact here. Be ready for more in the area." Kisaragi said on the squad radio.
The crew speedily move up to ramp up their effort in clearing the building, having encountered the Turks already. They check their corners carefully, before going around another corner and moving into a room that should contain the item needed for recovery. Currently, the small team is located nearby an indoor balcony.
Once they move near a doorway that has the room with the drawer right around, Araki touches his hand onto Kisaragi's shoulder as Kanata covers the long hallway. With a touch from the squad leader, Kisaragi knows it is clear to go. He moves into the room and does a quick scan of it, before digging through the drawer to find a Boko bear that has a dog tag attached to it. The letters on the dog tag reads 'JHF'. He chuckles to see such a childish item in a sport as brutal as this.
"What's the matter, Kisaragi?" Araki looks to the source of the sound.
Not wanting to stutter, especially at such a stressful time, Kisaragi turns around and shows him the cute little bear that has bandages all over it and is beaten up to hell and back.
Araki huffs through his nose with humor, before shaking his head and continue watching their sixes. "Just put it in the backpack."
Kisaragi nods and does what he is told to do, then peeks out of the door to assert the situation once more, as the environment remains dreadfully devoid of any sound.
Before he knows it however, bullets start whizzing right where he peeks his head out and hits the doorframe behind.
"Contact!" Kisaragi shouted out, not even stuttering.
Araki and Kanata quickly returns back the favor with some bullets of their own.
"Get a frag down there!" Kanata suggested, and to that Kisaragi immediately arms the grenade and throws it down the hallway.
"Russians spotted! End of hallway!" The Suleiman soldier who just peeked the other corner called out. He then sees a ball of metal ready to explode approach his position. "Grenade!" He shouted, getting everyone involved to stay behind cover and avoid the fragmentation.
Once the initial shock wears off, Krasnaya Zvezda returns more fire to cover for Kisaragi's retreat. "Coming out now!" He shouted and quickly got into a firing position behind the support beam of the balcony. "Holding!"
The crew keeps on firing their guns in semi auto until Kanata's AK-74M has no more round to shoot. "I'm empty, moving back!"
Araki moves out of the way to swap position with Kanata, as the bullets hit the support frame of the door. Araki continues to keep the pressure up, though and withstand the heavy suppression. "Kisaragi, get the fuck out!" The squad leader tells as he begins to back off.
"I'm covering!" Kisaragi shouted and fired his gun in response, continuing the wall of bullets that his squadmates have created.
Loud sounds of bullets exiting the barrels can be heard even from outside of the buildings, indicating a harsh battle happening inside the residence. And the observer of those sounds – Rudolfo and Moteru – lies quietly amongst the vegetation, remaining dutiful of their overwatching duties. But just as the gunfight in the building becomes more and more intense, another Turks emerges from the woods, his gun up and ready to engage. However, the guy is quickly put down by an accurate shot to the head by the marksman of the team. Moteru keeps a close eye onto the surrounding area of Rudolfo, hoping none of the Turkish soldiers ever find where they are right now. Another shot from the SVDM rings true, hitting another Suleiman personnel.
Back inside the building, Araki screams out during a pause in which he does not fire his gun. "Fuck off of here! I'm covering!"
Kisaragi nods and follows Kanata to where he is going. While running back to the door leading to the stairs, Kanata frantically reports on the situation via comms. "Andrey, Andrey! We're having heavy contact here! The far hallway is not a walk-through! Moving back!" The glasses on the windows of the hallway suddenly shatters and now more rounds are hitting where they are at.
Arriving to the doorway where they came from, they met the other half of the command, now busy engaging other elements of Suleiman. "Muslims, блядь!" Mikhail shouted out as he fires unsupported shots from his trusty RPK-74M, before Andrey takes over and does covering fire for Mikhail to set up properly and to reload. The rounds that come out of the door were plenty and massive in volume of fire, indicating presence of the MG3.
"Shit! Machine gunner is fucking us up!" Kisaragi shouted at the top of his lung and onto the earpiece. "Got any idea where the guy is!?"
"No idea. Your windows look to the other side." Rudolfo calmly answers on the other end, contrasting the situation Kisaragi finds himself in.
"Shit, fall back!" Kisaragi shouted again amongst the firefight.
"Cover the entrance, Misha!" Hikaru cries out as he starts inching away from his firing position.
"Fucking Turks cut us off! We're stuck at the beginning of the passage. I think we might be getting sandwiched right now!" Kisaragi continues to relay the information to the Russo-Japanese marksman.
But then Rudolfo observes a large flock of Suleiman infantrymen hauling their asses as quick as possible to the onsen, funneling more and more people into the deadly trap that command squad has fallen into. "Be advised, multiple Suleiman contacts is closing in on your position."
"Fuckers…" Moteru mutters, still keeping his eyes on Rudolfo's six.
"Ah хуй, there is even more coming." Rudolfo spoke, seeing even more Turkish infantrymen, which amounts to 10 men in total. "Our guys are so screwed, блядь. We have to go." Then, he puts away his marksman and deploys his pistol, readying himself for close quarter combat. "Overwatch team, onto you, onto you." He speaks on the comms.
Back to the indoor balcony area, Araki continues to suppress elements of the Turkish infantry units.
"They got cornered from that other end! Fuckers got kebabed, that's for sure!" The Turks shouted out, as if to keep his own morale up.
While firing his gun, he receives another transmission from his squadmates. "Araki, clusterfuck over here. Turks are keeping us pinned! Are you on the far end!?"
"Yes, but the machine gunner's holding the damn passage!" Kisaragi answered on the other end. Right as he finishes his sentence though, a grenade got through the doorway.
"Grenade!" Someone shouted, instantly making the boy hunker down to avoid the explosion. The little ball explodes, spitting out frags into the atmosphere.
"Fuck! Alive!?" Hikaru called out to Andrey, who is still shaken from the explosion.
"Andrey, working behind you on the right!" Mikhail shouted, but didn't receive an answer. "Andrey? Andrey!"
"Go go go!" Kisaragi calls for a retreat and slaps onto Andrey's back, likely too distracted to realize that someone said so. The slap wakes him up from the firefight tunnel vision, however, and gets him running immediately. Kanata also follows closely behind Andrey, running towards where Hikaru is currently at and helping Araki to keep the Turks on the other end at bay!
Another grenade flies through the doorway and explodes, prompting the rest of the command squad to pull back or else risk elimination.
"Back out!" Kisaragi slaps onto Mikhail's shoulder. "Let's force through the other end, come on!"
Mikhail, either out of stress or plainly not giving a fuck, continue firing at the doorway. This angers Kisaragi so much, he fires his own AK to the general direction at the enemy to both vent himself and to cover for Mikhail's retreat. "I'm covering Mikhail, get the fuck out!"
Finally feeling like fire superiority is maintained enough for movement, Mikhail holds his trigger off the RPK's trigger and runs back, touching on Kisaragi's shoulder to signal him to retreat, too. They both make a run for it through the hallways, expecting bullets to be flying through the windows as they run.
What they did not expect, however, was for those bullets to be replaced by multiple explosions behind their back, as the Turkish grenadier unloads all his grenade clip in the MGL. They somehow avoided almost all, but one unfortunately score a hit on Kisaragi who was running. He flops down to the ground, overwhelmed by the pain so much he falls unconscious.
"I'm holding the hallway! Andrey, pull him back, pull him back!" Mikhail runs even faster and gets to cover, firing his RPK-74M in bursts. Andrey, upon seeing Kisaragi hit, also made sure not to leave anyone behind.
"Aah, ahahahahahahaha. Cry some more, you fucking Muslims! Cry some more!" Mikhail shouted as he shot his gun, approaching the state of delirium. The squad's total volume of fire also seemed to increase upon hearing the battle cry.
When Mikhail is feeling it with the amount of lead he is dispensing, his RPK suddenly produces only clicks upon squeezing the trigger. "Пустой, блядь! (Empty, fuck!)" It seems that Mikhail is becoming so stressed, he can only speak Russian coherently now. "Перезарядка РПК! (Reloading RPK!)"
Recognizing that the grenadier would be very useful in this situation, Araki issues an order to Kanata. "Kanata, GP, frag round!" The gunfire continues, but Kanata quickly puts the grenade cartridge into the GP-34.
"Green, green! Got you covered!" Andrey cries for Kanata's grenade, keeping the pressure onto the hallway.
"Alright, alright!" Kanata nods rapidly, running to the middle of the hallway and fires the grenade. "GP on the go!" The grenade round flies through the air, finding its target in the wall down the hallway. The explosion it makes causes a small tinnitus to both side, but Araki follows up with a smoke grenade already thrown down the hallway. The smoke quickly fills up the hallway, not giving the Turks a chance to return fire at Krasnaya accurately.
"Get the heck out of there, Mikhail!" Araki shouts to Mikhail.
"Так точно!" Mikhail responds in Russian again and rushes past the hallway, avoiding any harm from the inaccurate bullets flying down it.
"Araki, I can't use the epipen here! The place's too hot to perform a revive!" Andrey reports on the matter relating to Kisaragi.
"Then carry the guy! Come on, I'm helping you too!" Hikaru runs to Kisaragi and carries one side. "I got this side! You take the other!"
"Very well!" Andrey carries the other side of Kisaragi's shoulder.
"Fall back, fall back!" Araki issues his order. "We can't stay for long, we have to go!"
"We're going, we're going!" The carriers of Kisaragi responded back loudly, ready to force through the other passageway.
The crew keeps holding off the advancing Suleiman footsoldiers with their guns and their grit, holding to a dim hope they may make it out of here alive.
"Kanata's empty!" Mikhail noted for the squad. "Get your mags out quickly, I got you covered!"
Kanata quickly reloads his gun, and with an aggressive rack, returns to the fight to give out even more bullets.
On the other side of the hallway, Rudolfo leads the flanking element of Krasnaya Zvezda through the stairways, looking to break command squad out of their sandwiched position.
"Where are our other guys!?"
"Load the fucking MGL! Turn those Orthodoxies into mists!"
The Turks shout out calls to each other, looking to completely squish any opposition left from Krasnaya Zvezda, the firefight becoming more and more intense as Rudolfo gets closer. The marksman encounters 4 Suleiman soldiers, which he quickly disposes of with his handy MP-443 Grach. He then approaches the corner alongside Moteru and nods with him to swap positions.
"They're moving here in the front! Give them the warm welcome!" Another Turks screamed.
"Fuck them up!" Another one shouted.
Moteru hurls a grenade to suspected enemy position behind cover and holds his own.
"So, where are the gre-" The soldier didn't even have time to finish his sentence before an explosion occurred, removing him and another Suleiman soldier from the match.
Peeking over the corner again, Moteru quickly assesses that there are no more hostile contacts, and they have successfully cleared the hallway. The friendly units are still shooting without mercy, however.
"Blue on Blue, Blue on Blue, idiots!" Moteru swore as he called for a ceasefire, waving his hand and exposing as little of him as possible.
"You're lighting up friendlies, блядь! Cease fire, cease fucking fire!" Rudolfo angrily remarked on the comms.
"Ah shit, it's our guys, Mikhail! Fuck!" Kanata lets his finger of the trigger. Other members of the squad also stop their fire mission.
"Friendly fire! Friendly fire! Stop shooting us, dammit!" Moteru continues his frantic call for ceasefire.
As Araki's squad finally manages to get some bearings after the intense firefight, and starts checking on their supplies and munitions, Araki and Hikaru keep up the pressure and holds off the Turks from rushing their position continually, but their body posture visibly relaxed as they hear the news.
"On my last mag, fellas!" Araki noted everyone, his AK-74M barrel starting to smoke from all the rounds it has to deliver in a short amount of time.
"Move out! We're out of here!" Kanata shouts, then gets a move on to where the marksman team is in the building.
Araki slaps onto Hikaru's shoulder, prompting him to start assisting Andrey on carrying Kisaragi back outside and onto the truck as fast as possible. Araki keeps his gun up, giving out some fire as he runs to cover the squad. Then he straight up speeds up to the stair as fast as possible, his companion – Mikhail and Kanata spits out more rounds to deter Suleiman from catching up to them. They quickly strafe backwards, keeping their guns on the doorway and pressure them enemy from giving chase to them.
"Go go go! They're running away!" One of the soldiers from Suleiman shouts and moves up with his HK33s, laying some rounds the hall with little to no effect.
"Kanata, hurry up! Araki, get out of there!" Moteru shouted again to the two who are still fighting the Turks.
"Back, back!" Mikhail hightails his way to the stairs.
"I'm coming!" Kanata responded loudly, before also following his squad to their only ways of safely extracting out of this hell.
"Everyone, just go down!" Araki issues his command.
"Got the stairs covered, captain! Let's go, come on!" Rudolfo calls to his squad leader, his hand holding tightly onto his pistol.
Araki ignores the call and fires some more shots to the Turks, taking out another enemy soldier. Knowing Araki got himself stuck, Mikhail fires some blind shots with his RPK-74M, giving Araki a small space to move out.
"Araki, get the fuck out! We're not staying, no more!" Andrey shouts, showing exhaustion with his voice as he carries Kisaragi.
That finally got the captain of Krasnaya Zvezda to fuck off from the corner and moves with the squad to the truck near where Spetsnaz squad is holding along with Ichiro.
"Hey, nice shot on enemy jeep there, man!" Combat engineer Ichiro complimented the anti-tank unit of Spetsnaz squad.
"Same goes to you. Thank goodness you got us covered, else we're toasted!" The boy responded with glee, proud of what he had managed to accomplish.
"Yeah… I wonder how my squad is doing currently." Ichiro pondered right when he received a transmission from his squad leader. "Ichiro, this is Araki speaking! Start the truck's engine now! We're fucking out of here!"
The combat engineer's face becomes tense, knowing the captain might have seen some shit, judging by his frantic, tired voice. "Yes, sir." He clenches his fist and walks to the truck, starting the engine up. It didn't take long, and the engine is now purring like a mechanical cat, standing by for the squad to load up. Ichiro remains in his driving seat, his finger tapping on the steering as if he is impatient, though for good sure. The wait didn't take long, however, and he can already see his squad in the side mirror. The gang was quick to mount onto the vehicle, but the process was slowed down a bit due to Hikaru and Andrey having to carry Kisaragi from the firefight all the way back to the truck. But atlas, they all returned, even with the cacophony of explosions and gunfire Ichiro heard from outside. And it's not like they were free, as they have to fend off some wandering Suleiman soldiers. Thankfully, only the anti-tank unit saw them, and even then it was taken care of swiftly by the RPK gunner.
Getting comfortable in his seat after the exhausting fight, Araki turns back to see everyone. They all look super battered up, and their clothes reek of gunpowder. Andrey is busy tending to Kisaragi, who has just been applied a dose of epipen and some painkillers to ease himself up. He then brings his hand up the earpiece in his left hand. "Spetsnaz, we're going out. There's multiple contacts inside the onsen, and it is likely they will realize we are gone sooner or later. Let's haul asses back to the south of the river and join the team. Is that clear, sergeant?"
"All clear, captain. We're raring to go, too. Just encountered some stragglers wandering over here, but it was no big deal. Did you get the stuff?"
"We got it. But those Turks are going to be angry for us just walking into their territory like this."
"Whatever. Let us go, sir."
"Yeah." Araki brings his hand out of the window and points to the front, signaling everyone it is time to move out.
The vehicles roar their engines and begin moving back onto the road, disappearing behind the rows of trees before Suleiman realized they are long gone from the point of interests.
As Araki laid back on the seats, he calls out to other units. "Igor to other units, Igor to other units, how copy?"
"We got all the Turks on our side, captain."
"Really?"
"Yeah. It was a rough fight though, and we lost a lot along the way. Nagumo's squad is completely wiped out, by the way."
"That sucks."
"No worries though. He manages to hold them off until we manage to organize ourselves another ambush. The second one was a great success, and we wiped the floor against them. Not without losses, of course, but we got our parts done."
"Хорошо, хорошо…"
"What about you, captain? Did you manage to do anything?"
"We got some items on the north side of the river. The initial infiltration was successful, but we got discovered by Suleiman's backline elements. It was a hard fight out of there, but we are safe for the time being."
"We should reorganize ourselves and prepare for another encounter, sir." Another voice joins in. "Judging by your voice, they give you one hell of a beating, да?"
"Да. But we managed to escape their maneuver. We are en route back to you guys now. And if nothing changes we w-"
All of a sudden, the air cracks and sends out a shockwave, catching everyone's attention except Ichiro who still drives the like nothing happened. A trail of smoke appears and flies up high into the blue sky after that, changing the combat engineer's expression changes into a smirk. "Those Turks really have fallen for that, huh?"
"What do you mean by that, Ichiro?"
"Well, captain… Let's just say I committed a small amount of tomfoolery before we left and uh…"
"What kind?"
A red flare can be seen fired on the bright blue sky, signifying the end of today's match between Krasnaya Zvezda and Suleiman Academy. If they are still here, alive and well, then that only means one thing.
"I just put some mines on the road, that's all."
"How exactly did you put it to… do that?" Mikhail looks flabbergasted.
"They may look to dodge the first mine, but they will never expect a second mine placed right on where they drive to avoid the first mine. That's all. It's quite simple, really." Ichiro then grins before looking at the road again. Everyone on the truck doesn't quite agree with his last statement, though.
"Anyway…" Araki finally lets out a breath full of relief. "We did it, guys. We won."
"Yeah…" Andrey looks up to the sky as he takes a deep breath again. "I can't believe we did it though."
"Really…" Kanata added. But that's about it. Everyone was at a loss for word, because they did not expect for them to win. Of course, losing this again would be shameful but still… Notwithstanding all that though, they have made it through the rounds of sixteen.
Stretching out his limbs and massaging his arms, Araki speaks out to the ones still standing. "All units, stand down. Make your way back to the meeting point at Mountain Mama's Shop. The match has ended, if you are not aware. And uh…" Araki clicks his tongue before smiling as he speaks again. "I thank you all for your contribution today. That was a great first match for me, and… I hope we will get more victories in the future. That's about it for now."
"Так точно."
"Yes sir."
"Thank you for believing in us, commander. I couldn't have believed I did something other than doing what was told today."
"Don't mention it, sergeant." Then, the young commander of Krasnaya Zvezda turns to the driver. "You heard what I said, yeah?"
"Yes. I'm driving back to base now."
"Thank you." Araki huffs with relief again, lying deeply into the passenger seat, as the convoy turns around and drives back the morning rally point again. The engine now purrs like a cat, mixing in with Hikaru's guitar, which is now playing a relaxing tune that gives the squad a sense of finality. Its name? Blood Type by Kino.
Once the typical after match procedure is done and everyone has recovered from getting shot to the face, Krasnaya Zvezda and Suleiman Academy joins up as a big convoy driving back to Shin-Aomori station to be ready for the train that would pick Suleiman up and get them back to Uwajima.
The sky slowly turns from bright blue to a yellowish hue, as the end of daytime is approaching. Lights in the city begin to lit up, the sea far up north sparkling from the light shone onto them. Araki can feel that his muscle is starting to ache from all the stuff he did during the match, but all that is overtaken by a sense of relief and fulfillment as the new Krasnaya Zvezda has taken their first victory, hopefully the first of many more. The drive was quiet, not much exchanged between anyone, probably because they are all so tired.
They visited some shops in the city on the way to get something to fill up their stomachs. Takoyaki was the preferred choice, though Mamoru – the captain of Suleiman Academy, insisted on buying local apple pies and ciders to both eat on the road and to bring home some for friends. "Damn, these things are the shit! I'll make sure to write this in my blog!" He murmured as he munched on the apple pies and drank the cider bottle, though it wasn't like the thing he said was intelligible to anyone else with all the eating he was doing.
The long drive from the mountains back the city finally ended at the train station where Araki first met Mamoru – the playful commander of Suleiman Academy. They start getting stuff back onto the train, with Krasnaya Zvezda members assisting the JHF staff and Suleiman members on getting all the equipment back onto the train for another long haul back from Aomori. Once that is all done, the personnel from both side line up in parallel one more time, the two commanders stepping out of the line to do their farewell. They both stand there for a second, before Mamoru actively gives his hand out. "You were great out there, kid. I'm surprise a first year like you have such great potential. I mean… all the things that your team did, it was you, yeah?"
Araki hastily responses back with a handshake, though he shakes his head. "No, I wasn't aware of it, not all at least. Those are just the team acting on their own tactical prowess."
Mamoru whistles, accentuating his cool guy persona even more with a grin placed on his face, pushing up his tacticool sunglasses. "Yeah right, you and your modesty…"
"It is not modesty, mister Hojo. I'm just giving credits where it is due. Plus, some of your guys give us quite a hard time today." The words that Krasnaya Zvezda's commander utters make some sergeants grin in satisfaction.
"Oh, you mean the Jandarmas? Yeah, they're quite a hassle to deal with. So… did you get wiped out encountering them, mister Yamamoto?" Mamoru smirks, expecting a no. The answer, however, surprises him.
"We… we did not, but just barely." Araki looks straight into the Turkish commander's eyes, asserting that it is the truth and sending a chill down his spine, realizing he is witnessing a prodigy in action.
Suddenly, a Suleiman member comes close to Mamoru and whispers something into his ear, then gives him a mysterious, unnamed box. Suleiman's captain simply nods before the guy gets away and leaves the commanders alone.
Pulling his hand back from the handshake, Mamoru extends the other hand that is holding the box. "A gift for you with your great performance, by the way." Then he turns towards the train's entrance and looks back. "Thank you for match today, but we must part way now. I hope you continue to prove yourself as capable in the future, captain Yamamoto." The commander gestures a rally onto the train nonverbally, getting all the men back onto the train.
Araki stays silent for a moment, before saying his farewell too. "The same goes to me, captain Hojo. До свидания." He saluted, to which the commander on the train also saluted back.
The commander keeps holding that position as the train picks up more speed and becomes smaller and smaller, before disappearing amongst the mountain ranges. When the train is completely gone from view, he opens up the mysterious, to find that it is filled with a pink glob cut into square pieces.
Some of the men got curious and peeks at the box also, only for their mouth to form into the letter O.
"My Kami, you are definitely a highly regarded person, captain."
"That's quite a prestigious gift you have there."
"This year might be good for us Krasnaya Zvezda, huh."
Araki looks a little confused on the matter, not getting at what they are preaching at. A sergeant, noticing the confusion on the young commander's face, adds his two cents. "You don't know, captain Yamamoto? Suleiman Academy only gives out gifts like this if they thought the opponent they faced beat them at their own game."
"Huh, no wonder…" Araki nods, before asking another question. "But what about this pink, squishy glob that seems to be coated with a powder?"
"Oh those?" The sergeant quickly grabs a piece of it before he elaborates. "They're Turkish delights, sir."
"Turkish delight…" Araki also grabs a piece of it and eats it, tasting the sweetness and the hint of rose infused into it. His chest suddenly feels a little warm at the gift, his cheek rises up a bit as he enjoys the treat.
While the young commander still has a long way to go to fulfill his promise with his lady, this victory marks a new page of Krasnaya Zvezda's history, a history now not built with just tenacity and rigid cohesion alone, but with flexibility and adaptability also.
But most importantly, for the first time since the humble beginnings of Hohei-do, the red star learns its first lessons on how to shine with its own light.